I'd also recommend something like scratch. If these people are non-technical as you say, they might not understand the concepts of directories on a computer, zipped files and so on. You'd be risking spending your teaching time troubleshooting the setup process and losing their interest before they ever get to write a line.
Of course that's just based on how I interpreted your post, you know best their potential skill level.
I worked on big games that got leaked. Companies spend a shitton on marketing with the hope of making a big boom when it's announced. We're hoping to see our work revealed in the best way possible. When it leaks, that big announcement possibility is gone, that money is partly wasted, and what's shown is out of our control.
I've been watching halt and catch fire and I hate the main guy ever since he threw his wife's whole lasagna in the trash for no reason other than "I can make food too"
All medias stopped talking about it once they found out the shooter couldn't be used to demonize a minority